A speaker at a recent recruiting meeting in Dublin declared that the Dublin slums were more unhealthy than the trenches in Flanders… These same slums are notorious the world over for their disease-breeding unhealthy character. All the world over it is known that the poor of Dublin are housed under conditions worse than those of any civilised people on God’s earth1.
Dublin was infamous for the living conditions of its citizens in 1916 and one could easily come to the view that the Irish (thirty-two county) economy in general was performing poorly. The truth was quite different, in fact at this time Ireland was experiencing a period of unprecedented prosperity although clearly this was not shared by all sectors of society. As a food producing nation, Ireland in 1916 was experiencing the positive economic effects of war. In fact the entire period of the First World was one of unprecedented prosperity.
In the labour market by 1916 an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 men from Ireland had joined the British army. In addition considerable numbers of both men and women went to Great Britain to work in munitions factories and hospitals. There was also work provided in Ireland in the servicing of army camps and bases. This extra employment and the general upward trend in wages across all sectors was transforming the traditional pattern of unemployment and under-employment. In some cases, employers (such as Guinness’s) continued to pay employees who went to war.
The thirty-two county economy was dominated by four industries at this time: Agriculture, Linen production, Shipbuilding and Brewing & Distilling. The first three of of these activities were positively impacted by the war with increased demand for food, linen and ships directly linked to the war effort. Only Brewing and Distilling suffered in this period, from sharp increases in excise duty and other controls on production.
Viewed from a European rather than purely a United Kingdom background, the Irish economy in the second decade of the twentieth century was by no means industrially backward. In 1911, 23% of the economically active population was involved in manufacturing or construction. This placed it in the group of middle ranking industrialised countries along with Portugal, the Scandinavian countries, Italy and the Netherlands which were all in the region of 22 – 25%2.
These four industry groups are now briefly discussed, starting with Agriculture.
1 Workers’ Republic, 26 February 1916
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